Leonardo da Vinci’s machine designed to sit, stand, and move its arms was the robot knight.
Leonardo designed the humanoid automaton in Milan around 1495 for a festival organized by Ludovico Sforza. The machine was dressed in armor and operated through a system of pulleys, cables, gears, and a rotating external control mechanism. Its planned movements included raising its arms, moving its head, and opening and closing its jaw.
The robot knight was not a programmable electronic robot. It was a mechanical automaton, meaning that physical mechanisms produced movements that might imitate a living person. Leonardo’s surviving notes and drawings allowed modern researchers to reconstruct the machine in the early twenty-first century.
The knight is often confused with Leonardo’s mechanical lion, another theatrical automaton associated with court performances. The lion walked and presented flowers, while the robot knight represented a human figure in armor and demonstrated articulated mechanical motion.